When they escaped from Toronto and set out for a small island in the pacific northwest in May of 2020, the musical duo of Eric “The Duke” Duquette and Jena “Goldie” Gogo didn’t quite know where their musical journey would take them. Sheltered amongst the tall evergreens at the edge of the Salish Sea, the pair spent their days at first tending to their garden and chopping fire wood. Slowly and steadily though, melodies and song ideas began to pour in like the briny sea air on the rocky beaches.
As longtime members of Blue Sky Miners the duo had released two albums, toured in Canada and the US, and enjoyed radio play on CBC Radio, The Strombo Show, and college radio stations. Still there seemed to be uncharted musical waters on the horizon. While Jena was honing her own unique songwriting style, Eric was beginning to experiment by writing his own songs inspired by the music of the 60’s and 70’s.
Snap forward and it turns out that the rag tag pirate-like community of (aptly named) Protection Island was the perfect coastal environment for Jena and Eric’s musical evolution to take place. Fire lit jams, a newfound connection to nature and deep reflection on their roles as settlers in this land gave spark to a collection of new songs that the now Vancouver-based pair are proud to present.
Duke & Goldie’s 6 song self-titled EP was recorded in Toronto with producer and pedal steel ace Aaron Goldstein (Julianna Riolino, Daniel Romano, Kathleen Edwards) with rhythm pros Anna Ruddick and Dani Nash. The EP charts out landscapes and stories from thrilling rocky mountain highs, to mysterious remote deserts and walks the line barefoot between warm-folk storytelling and mystical country twang. All while asking deeper questions about the duo’s place in the land they love so much.
Get the debut Duke & Goldie EP everywhere the getting’s good on May 12th, 2023.
